Jean-Claude Juncker

Jean-Claude Junker has been married to Christiane Frising since 1979. The couple doesn’t have any children.

Jean-Claude Juncker was born on 9th December 1954 in Redange, Luxembourg, to Marguerite Juncker and Joseph Juncker. He was primarily raised in the southern part of the country.

At a young age, he became a member of the Christian Social People’s Party. After completing his schooling from a boarding school in Belgium, he joined the University of Strasbourg in France, from where he earned his master’s degree in law in 1979. The following year, he was sworn into the Luxembourg Bar Council.

Shortly after his graduation, Jean-Claude Juncker was appointed as a Parliamentary Secretary, which marked the beginning of his political career. In 1982, he received a government post, after being named the secretary of employment and social security. Two years later, he was elected to the legislature, and he became a member of Prime Minister Jacques Santer’s cabinet as the Labor Minister.

In 1989, he was appointed to the Board of Governors of the World Bank as Luxembourg's representative. His second election to the parliament helped him gain prominence within the European Union.

He became a key architect of the Maastricht Treaty (the Treaty on European Union). He was also responsible for the clauses on Economic and Monetary Union—a significant process that would eventually give rise to the Euro.

In 1994, he was re-elected to the chamber. As Prime Minister Santer was to be nominated as the next President of the European Commission, Grand Duke Jean approved the appointment of Juncker as the next Prime Minister of Luxembourg. Therefore, Juncker left his post at the World Bank but continued his position as the Finance Minister.

Juncker assumed office as the Prime Minister of Luxembourg on 20 January 1995. During his term, Juncker became known for accelerating the country’s economic performance, which helped Luxembourg reach one of the highest per capita GDPs in the World. He also made several official visits abroad to improve ties with other countries.

Shortly after Jean-Claude Juncker became the head of the commission, it was alleged by the media that during his tenure as the prime minister, he had turned his nation into a European centre for corporate tax avoidance. With the aid of his government, companies used to transfer tax liability for billions of euros to Luxembourg, where income tax was levied at a rate lesser than 1%. Juncker however denied these claims.

He received much criticism because of his remarks on immigration. During the European Forum Alpbach, he said that borders are the worst invention made by politicians, supporting Angela Merkel’s open door stance to the European migrant crisis. .